Archive for May, 2009

Mr. Miller once again showed us an amazing part of Oakland that was hidden right before our eyes. I live a half mile away from the botanical gardens at Lake Merritt but was completely unaware of their existence. The amount of natural beauty I saw there overwhelmed the students and me. The group split up some as we went on our independent hunts for the rarest photos. At one point I spent 30 minutes taking picture of the same tree, trying to get it just right. Needless to say, I ended up with 40+ incredible photos (IMHO) and there is absolutely no way to narrow it down to four. Therefore, I am extending the number to 10 for the class as long as each photograph is defended with a thoughtful and descriptive caption.

Swaying Grass: The two things I love about this photo are the colors and focus. I took this picture in the median at the intersection of Harrison and Berkeley on the way to the lake. You’d probably never notice when you drive by in your car, but these plants show a lot of beauty when you take the time to look.

Fractal Branching: The self-similarity in this picture astounds me. If you look in the spaces between branches, you see an iteration of branches growing with the same algorithm. The angle of the photo and the deep focus highlight this feature.

Antennae: I spent a lot of time looking a this tree. It has very interesting self-similar patterns on its stems that are somewhat fern-like. On this picture, however, I chose to focus on these two reproductive organisms at the base of the stem. I love how the tiny spheres help build the larger one.

Ladybug Lane: I spent a lot of time trying to coax this critter into a nice pose for my picture. It is on the same tree as above, this time highlighting the leaves.

Veins: I’m not sure what type of plant this leaf was on, but the leaf itself was GIGANTIC. I laid it over my lens and held it up to the light to get a series of shots of the veins. They are all very cool, but Ashley thought this was the best. They all show the bifurcating patterns that are similar to those of the branches and stems of the plant. The bifurcations overlap to produce self-similar polygons at many different scales on the leaf.

Fractal Fern: I couldn’t pass up this perfect example of self-similarity. I wish I had taken this with better focus so I could see more detail in the white patterns on individual leaves.

Flourescent Flowers (yay again for alliteration!): There was a large section of these flowers that radiated through the green foliage. This photo is the best from a series I took of the patch. The flower in focus appears to float in a different universe from the flat background. This effect is due to the differing heights of all the flowers in the bunch.

Self-Similar Madness: Although I am not so pleased with the background and focus of this image, I thought it was an incredible example of a 3D self-similar fractal. If I could zoom in even more, I wonder how many times this pattern would repeat. Perhaps infinitely?

Purple: I think this flower mainly speaks for itself. It has perfect symmetry.

Untitled: I don’t know how a title or caption could do justice to how this picture makes me feel. The water droplets look like frost hanging onto the flower. The bright green background is an excellent juxtaposition for the idea of frosty petals. You can probably tell that the off-center flower and blurry background is becoming a motif for me. I think I may have to continue it.

Water Moss: I chose this picture because it shows a lot of irregularity in the way the moss is growing and also in the patterns in the water. However, the motion of the water around the rocks is regular.

Pink Flower: This picture shows a lot of contrast between the foreground and background. The foreground is the pink flower that it is in focus. It is very regular and bright. The background are the out of focus leaves. The layout of the leaves if irregular, but the leaves themselves show regular repeated patterns.

Dandelion: The dandelion seeds are incredible fractal. They fill a sphere very efficiently while leaving space for the air to lift them away.

Catepillar Plant: I’m not sure of the name of this plant, but I took a picture of it because it looks similar to another natural pattern–a catepillar. I also like how the depth is very apprent because of the telephoto effect and focus.